BX 9178 
.H4D5 



DISCOURSES 



TO DIFFERENT 



AGES AND CLASSES. 



BY II. HERTEV, 

PASTOR 01 THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MARTINS BUBO, 0. 



SPRINGFIELD, O: 

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE 
" PRESBYTERIAN OF THE WEST." 



1845. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-five, by Henry Hervey, in the Clerk's 
Office of the District Court of Ohio. 



TABLE OP CONTENTS. 



PART FIRST. 

TO CHILDREN. 

'•Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come 
unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven 
— Matt, xix, 14. 11. 



PART SECOND. 

TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 

<'Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she 
that bare thee shall rejoice. My son, give me 
thine heart."— Prov. xxiii, 25-26. - - 29. 

TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 

"For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, 
and their offspring with them/'— Isaiah lxv, 23. 42. 

TO YOUNG NON-PROFESSORS, 

"He that, being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, 
shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without rem- 
edy. Prov, xxix, 1. 55, 



iv TABLE OF CONTESTS. 

TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 

"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are 
strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye 
have overcome the wicked one.— -I John, ii, 14. 68. 

PART THIRD. 

TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 

"Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he 
knoweth it not." — Hosea, vii, 9. - - 8§. 



PART FOFRTH. 
TO THE AGED. 
"An old dissiple." — Acts, xxi, 16. - - 10L 



INTRODUCTION* 

The object of the following brief series of 
discourses is, to induce those who are not truly 
christians, to become so ; and those that are, to 
become better and more useful. That this object 
might be the more likely to be secured, persons 
are addressed according to their particular ages, 
and classes. As there is the more hope of 
securing attention, when the address particular- 
izes the persons to whom it comes. 

They begin with children, because it is felt that 
the beginning of life is the most hopeful period 
for securing religion, for cultivating the soul for 
usefulness here, or a happy immortality hereafter. 

From childhood they proceed with more urgen- 
cy to youth, because it is felt that, if this vigorous 
and second age of human life be spent under the 
means of grace, without securing this gieat 
object of man's existence, the hopeful prospect 
of attaining it at all, is greatly diminished. That 
though life be' prolonged, and the means of grace 
be continued, yet the crisis, in reference to most 
persons, is passed before middle life arrives. 
With this fact in view, he who labors for souls, 
feels that the period of his successful labor is 
confined to a much narrower compass, than the 



viii 



INTRODUCTION. 



whole of ordinary life. If his zeal in urging 
the attention of this age to the great concerns of 
the soul, should seem to be disproportionate, this 
fact will be a sufficient apology, that his encour- 
agement is, in a great measure, restricted to it. 
In accordance with this fact, these discourses 
come to those who have passed the youthful 
period, with less encouragement ; and after refer- 
ring to some of the many discouragements in 
their case, and attempting the overthrow of their 
excuses, they come back to the professedly 
religious youth, and endeavor to exhibit to them 
the high standard of christian excellence which 
they should imitate, and the pious attainments 
which they should make in the period of their 
youthful profession. 

From these they proceed to middle life, and 
attempt to portrzy the obligatians of this respon- 
sible age of the christian's life, and conclude 
with a description of the circumstances, privileges 
and duties of the aged christian. 

This humble effort, at first made for the spirit- 
ual benefit of his pastoral charge, is now com- 
mended to the impartial and prayerful attention 
of the reader, that the author and reader, becoming 
sharers of a common salvation, ^may have cause 
to rejoice together. 

H. HERVEY. 

Martinsburg, June, 1845. 



DISCOURSES 

O DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES 

PART FIRST. 



DISCOURSES 

TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES. 



TO CHILDREN. 

"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto 
me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." — 
Matt, xix, 14. 

Mark, in his history of this, says they 
were young children ; Luke, that they were 
infants. The same idea is intimated by the 
expression, they were brought unto him, and 
he took them up in his arms. Matthew says 
the object in bringing them, was, that he 
might lay his hands on them and pray. 
Mark, that he might touch them ; Luke the 
same. It was customary among the Jews, 
when blessings were sought for others in 
prayer, to lay the hands on the head of the 
person prayed for, implying a kind of conse- 
cration to God. Thus, Jacob, in bestowing 
his dying blessing on his sons, Ephraim and 
Manasseh, laid his hands on the head of 



12 



TO CHILDREN. 



each. They were brought, no doubt, by their 
parents, who were followers of Christ, who 
desired to devote, not only themselves to 
Christ, but their children as well as them- 
selves. All the Jews were accustomed to 
devote their children to God, and have the 
sign of God's covenant placed upon them ; 
it was natural, therefore, that they should 
expect it to be done under the gospel. But 
the disciples reproved them for doing it : told 
them it was improper to bring their children 
to Christ, as some disciples do still, because, 
perhaps, they thought they were too young 
to receive any good, or because they thought 
their master did not wish to be troubled with 
them. But Jesus said to these, forbid them 
not — suffer little children to come unto me. 
And a reason he gives, is, for of such, or of 
persons having dispositions like these, is the 
kingdom of heaven, or the visible church on 
earth, composed. He, therefore, laid his 
hands on them ; that is, as Mark says, he 
blessed them. 

Many persons seem to think, some say, 
that young children cannot be profited by the 
ordinances of religion and the means of grace; 
but such follow the opinions of these disciples, 
and not the judgment of Christ. It is ex- 
pressly said that he blessed them. It is there- 



TO CHILDREN. 



13 



fore clear, that they were capable of being 
blessed. He who thinks and acts differently, 
is directly at war with the conduct of Christ 
in this case. 

Children — your parents, I suppose, believe 
that you may be blessed of the Lord; and 
acting upon this beliqf, they have brought 
you to the Savior often, in prayer, that he 
might bless you, and in accordance with what 
they have understood to be the will of their 
master, they have devoted you to him in bap- 
tism ; and they desire for you, more than any 
thing else, that you might be the children of 
God by faith, and that the Savior's blessing 
might rest upon you. 

Now, as the Savior says, permit little chil- 
dren to come unto me, it is surely implied 
that he is very willing that they should come 
to him. And when he says, forbid them not, 
it means, that it is not agreeable to his will, 
that any person, or any thing, should keep 
them from coming to him. And when he is 
willing that you should come to him and be 
saved, it would be very unkind to him, and 
cruel to yourselves, if there should be any 
thing in your own minds which would keep 
you from the Savior, and cause you to lose 
your soul, and be miserable forever. 

Coming to Christ is only another name for 



14 



TO CHILDREN. 



becoming pious — getting a new heart — hav- 
ing God for your friend through Christ — ob- 
taining the pardon of your sins, or becoming 
a christian. 

Now, what we wish you particularly to 
think of to-day, is, that it is your duty, and 
privilege, to become such, while you are chil- 
dren. It is a great mistake, in which some 
of you may be, that religion does not proper- 
ly belong to your age : that it belongs to 
grown up people, and especially old people. 
You have got this idea, perhaps, from the fact 
that you do not see children, so often as grown 
lap persons, professing religion, and taking 
part in religious things. But practice on this 
subject, like many others, is most generally 
wrong. You no where read, in the Bible, 
that you may live till you are fifteen or twen- 
ty years old, before you come to the Savior, 
or espouse his cause. God kindly says — I 
love them that love me, and they that seek 
me early, shall find me. Remember now thy 
Creator, &c. He says, permit infants to 
come to me, and forbid them not, by encour- 
aging them to put it off till they are older* 
Look at some of the examples in the Bible ; 
look at the boy Samuel — ministering before 
the Lord while he is yet wearing his linen 
apron. See him, while a child, instructing 



TO CHILDREN. 



15 



Eli, the priest of ninety-eight years of age — 
telling him what God was about to do to„ his 
family, and to the land. See how willing and 
obedient he is, when he says, speak Lord, for 
thy servant heareth. See how blessed was 
his youth. As he grew to the size of a man, 
the Lord was with him, and did let none of 
his words fall to the ground. Look at Ohe- 
diah. He said of himself, — I feared the Lord 
from my youth. This is only another way of 
saying that he was religious from a child. 
See also David, while yet a youth, single 
handed fighting the battle of'the Lord- 
overcoming Goliath, and gaining a victory for 
Israel, because piety was the beauty of his 
youth. Look, too, at Solomon, listening to 
the advice of David his father, saying to him 
— Thou my son, know thou the God of thy 
father, and serve him with a perfect heart 
and a willing mind. You remember, also, 
the story of the little Jewish girl who was 
carried captive, and made a servant in the 
family of Naaman, the chief commander of 
the Syrian army ; how she recommended him 
to the minister of her religion for a cure of 
his leprosy, and thus recommended the reli- 
gion of her fathers to a nation of idolaters. 
Isaiah, also, though he began to reign as a 
king at eight years of age, departed not from 



16 



TO CHILDREN. 



the right ways of the Lord. You know, too, 
how Daniel and the three companions of his 
boyhood, withstood the temptations to intem- 
perance and idolatry, in the rich palaces of 
Babylon, and caused their religion to be ac- 
knowledged in that great empire. Jeremiah, 
and John the Baptist, those two great preach- 
ers of the. Old and New Testament history, 
were sanctified for their proper work from 
their birth. You know, too, what the aged 
Paul said of the amiable young man Timothy 
—that from a child he knew the Holy Scrip- 
ture, which was able to make him wise unto 
salvation, through faith that is in Christ. 
Thus, the commands and invitations of Scrip- 
ture, and the examples it afFords/go against 
the notion that you may not feel the obliga- 
tion to be pious while you are children. 

Cases are frequently occurring, which show 
that children may be religious, as well as oth- 
ers. A little boy on his death bed, was 
asked where he was going. He answered, 
to heaven. Being asked why he wished to 

§o there, he answered, because Christ is there, 
eing asked what he should do if Christ 
should leave heaven, he replied, I will go 
with him wheresoever he goeth: illustrating 
the idea of the Apostle, that it was being 
with Christ which made heaven. 



TO CHILDREN. 



17 



A little girl, being informed that she could 
not probably live long, said to her mother, 
won't you go with me to the grave? it is dark 
there. When told she could not, she wa$ 
affected, and turned her face to the wall, and 
having prayed, she turned to her mother and 
said, it is all light now ; the Savior will be 
with me. 

But you may ask, why should I seek the 
Lord, or come to the Savior. I am young, 
and have not done things that are very sin- 
ful. Now, though you are young, and have 
not committed all the sins of those who are 
older, or all the sins, with their many aggra- 
vations, which you will commit, \i you should 
live long and not repent, yet you are sinners. 
The Bible tells you that you are born in sin, 
and brought forth in iniquity. It says, that 
the best of persons are by nature children of 
wrath. You need not ask how great sinners 
you are, but whether you are sinners at all. 
You sin in thought, and word, as well as in 
the things you do, or fail to do. And you 
have learned in the Catechism, and from the 
still higher authority of the Bible, that every 
sin, the least as well as the greatest, deserves 
the wrath and curse of God, both in this life, 
and that which is to come. You know that 
all the children which were upon the earth at 
B 



18 



TO CHILDREN. 



the time of the flood, were drowned, and 
that children die in every age, and that the 
half of mankind who are born into the worlds 
die before they come to be men and women* 
and this could not happen under the govern- 
ment of a just God, unless they were sinners. 

I suppose you all know that you do some 
things wrong. If you look at all your though ts 
to day, or since you came to church, you will 
see that you have broken the command 
which says — you should not think your own 
thoughts, or speak your own words, on the 
Lord's day. You know you are not so much 
pleased with the worship of God, as you are 
in play, That in the worship of God, both 
at home and in the church, you think the time 
long, and go to sleep sometimes ; and would 
be as well pleased if there was no worship^ 
and no Sabbath. You know that you do not 
like to pray to the Lord, or read the Bible : if 
you were not sinners,, you would love these 
things as much as you do your victuals, or 
your plays. 

Every one of you would think it would be 
a great sin to disobey your parents all the 
time, to hate them, and abuse them. Now, 
it is a greater sin to disobey God, and not to 
love the Savior, and be sorry when you hav§ 
offended him, 



TO CHILDREN* 



19 



One day, when the good missionary Henry 
Martyn was teaching some Persian children, 
one of the little boys read in the New Testa- 
ment how one of the servants struck the 
Savior on the face. He stopped, and said* 
Sir, did not his hand dry up ? He wondered 
if he was not instantly punished, for trying to 
injure so kind and. so good a being as Jesus 
Christ. No doubt you think you could not 
he so wicked as to abuse the Savior. You 
have never struck the Savior, like the servant 
of the High Priest, but you have hurt his 
feelings, and wounded him a thousand times, 
by your sins. Every day you neglect to 
pray f every time you break the Sabbath, 
trifle with religious instruction, or use wicked 
words — every time you get angry, and quar- 
rel, and attempt to deceive, or lie — every day 
you live without repentance, and asking the 
Lord to make you holy, you grieve the Savior 
who died for yon. You do not read, any 
where, that the Savior wept because persons 
struck him, and in that way abused him ; but 
you read that he wept because persons would 
not come to him, and be saved by him. He 
was grieved because they would bring des- 
truction upon themselves. Now, because you 
are sinners, you ought to come to Christ and 
seek his favor for the pardon of your sins. 



20 



TO CHILDREN. 



You ought, also, to come to Christ for puriji- 
cation, as well as pardon. You read that 
nothing which is unclean, or unholy, shall 
enter heaven. God has promised to give a 
new heart. For this David, and all like him, 
pray. Create in me a clean heart, O God, 
and renew a right spirit within me. Without 
holiness, it is said, no man, and it is equally 
as true no child, shall see the Lord. All 
need new hearts, and the name of Christ can 
do every thing, said little Ellen Smith, who 
died, lately, six years and a half old, near 
Wooster. 

But you ask, how may I seek the Savior, 
or come to him now ? I answer, in the first 
place, you must learn what the Scripture 
teaches. It is from this alone, and from 
books and discourses derived from it, that you 
can learn what God and Christ is, and the 
way to be saved. You may learn this by 
studying the book itself, by catechisms, by 
attending to sermons, by the Sabbath School; 
and by every way you can, you should learn 
it. It contains letters sent you by your 
heavenly father, and what child would not 
read and understand a letter sent by a father 
who was absent. The Bible is the last will 
of your Savior, who died for you, and what 
child would not search every item of his 



TO CHILDREN. 



21 



father's will ! A Popish priest met an Irish 
boy going to a Bible School with a Bible 
under his arm, and said to him, what book is 
that you have? It is a will sir. What will ? 
tie asked again. The last will and testament 
that Jesus Christ left to me, replied the boy. 
What did Christ leave you in that will ? A 
kingdom sir. Where does that kingdom lie? 
It is the kingdom of heaven sir. And will 
not every person get there as well as you ? 
No sir, none can get there but those who 
claim their title, on the ground of this will. 

A little girl once heard a minister preach- 
ing from the text — He shall feed his flock like 
& shepherd : He shall gather the lambs in his 
<arms. When asked about the sermon, she 
said she was wishing all the time the minister 
was preaching* that she was one of Christ's 
iambs. How happy wouid it be if all were 
Employed in that way. If you fully desire to 
be one of his, he will receive you : for he 
says — suffer little children to come unto me. 

But secondly: In order that you receive 
the proper instruction of God's word, and 
(come to Christ, you must pray unto him. 
Children often think that they are not requir- 
ed to pray, because they can not pray as 
older persons. 

Nq\v § we say God does not require you to 



22 



TO CHILDREN 



pray as old persons, but as children. As he 
does not require you to think and work as a 
man while a child, so he does not require you 
to pray as a man, while a child. For this 
purpose he has taught you, as well as men„a 
child's prayer : — Our father, &c 

What child cannot pray such a prayer as 
the Savior heard from the penitent thief — 
Lord, remember me : or of Bartimeus — Jesus 
thou son of David, have mercy on me: or of 
the Publican — God be merciful to me a sin- 
ner. The Savior understands a child's lan- 
guage. That he might sympathise with 
children, he became a child himself. 

A physician, entering the room of a sick 
mother, heard her little son praying for her. 
Well, said he, your little boy is praying for 
you. Yes, said she, he reads the Bible for 
me, and has taught me the way to be saved : 
and I thank God that he goes to the Sun- 
day School. 

Third : In coming to Christ, you must be- 
lieve in him. Anna Coe, a little girl of 
twelve years old, and a baptized member of 
this church, languished a long time under a 
disease which wasted away nearly all her 
flesh. In this weak and emaciated state, her 
pastor visited her. He asked her if she did 
not desire to recover her health^and live: she 



TO CHILDREN. 



23 



replied she did not. But, said he, you love 
your parents, do you not wish to remain with 
them ? Yes, said she, I love my parents, but 
I love Jesus Christ more. You love the 
Church, and to go to the Sabbath School ; and 
take pleasure in the society of the scholars. 
Yes, said she, but the church in heaven is 
better than the church on earth, and to be 
with Christ better than the Sabbath School. 
Soon after this she died, and we doubt not 
the Savior took her to himself. 

This is coming to Christ ; when you love 
him more than parents and companions, and 
desire his presence more than earthly good 
things. It is illustrated by Cecil's story of 
the beads. His little daughter was one day 
playing with a few beads, which seemed 
greatly to delight her. He said to her, you 
have some pretty beads there, and you seem 
very much pleased with them. Well, now, 
throw them behind the fire- The tears start- 
ed in her eyes, and she looked as if she must 
have a reason for such a strange command. 
Well, said he, do as you please, but you know 
i never told you to do any thing which I did 
not think would be for your good. Then, 
summoning up all her fortitude, she threw 
them into the fire. 

Some days after, he brought her a box full 



24 



TO CHILDREN. 



of larger beads and toys. These, my child, 
said he, are yours, because you believed and 
obeyed me, in throwing those paltry beads 
behind the fire. She burst into tears with 
excessive joy. Now, said he, remember as 
long as you live, what faith is. Put the same 
trust in God, that you did in me. Do as he 
commands you, whether you understand the 
reason of his commands or not. And for the 
sinful trifles which you are required to for- 
sake, he will give you those which are infi- 
nitely valuable now, and forever. 

If you deny yourselves the sinful pleasures 
of time, your heavenly father will give you 
the unmingled joys of heaven. Many chil- 
dren of your age are, no doubt, now in 
heaven ; and you, too, may soon die ; and if 
you first come to Christ, you will go there 
afeo, and be holy and happy in the best so- 
ciety in the universe forever. 

Now, children, I have done. It remains 
for you to remember, and put in practice 
what I have told you. If you do, you will be 
glad all your lives, and rejoice for it when 
you come to die, and through eternity. — 
Your parents, Sabbath School teachers, pious 
friends, and all good beings will rejoice. In 
this way, like the children in the temple, say- 
ing, hosanna to the son of David, you may 



TO CHILDREN. 



25 



excel those who are older, and prove the 
truth of the statement, that out of the 
mouths of babes and sucklings, praise is 
perfected. 



DISCOURSES 

TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES, 

PART SECOND. 



DISCOURSES 



TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES. 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 

"Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that 
bare thee shall rejoice. My son, give me thine heart, 
and let thine eyes observe my ways." — Prov. xxiii, 25, 26. 

The second of these verses may be con- 
sidered the first in the order of events, as the 
father's gladness and the mother's joy are 
more especially subsequent to the compliance 
with the command — son, give me thy heart. 

We ask your attention, then, First ; To 
God's claim upon you : Second ; To some of 
the sources of the joy. 

L Ged's claim upon you. — In referenoe to 
the terms in which the claim is expressed, I 
remark, that they are affectionate — my son : 
it is the prompting of parental love — it is the 
yearnings of your heavenly father's kindness, 
which you hear in the remote solitude of 
your revolt. It is the audible entreaty of 



30 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 



him whose authority you have disrespected, 
and whose goodness you have not valued, 
which you hear asking you for such affection 
as becomes a child. It is the postulation of a 
tenderness which would rather beseech than 
strike, which here addresses the generous 
feelings of your nature. What son so far 
lost to all remains of filial affection, who will 
not feel some tender emotion stir within him, 
at the sound of a loving father's voice, utter- 
ing the words of so endeared a union, and 
acknowledging a relation which none other 
but a father can bear, or a child sustain. The 
strength and unsubduing nature of your 
heavenly father's love is the more apparent 
in this case, as it addresses you in a state of 
the most unnatural alienation of your affec- 
tions from him, and after you have taken the 
powers which he gave you to do his service 
with, and the affections which he gave you 
to love him with, and perverted them to ob- 
jects which were directly opposed to his will 
When he has been saying son, you have re- 
garded him as a stranger — turned your back 
and went on as if unwilling to acknowledge 
the relation you sustain to such a father. — 
When he has said — give me thy heart — you 
have refused, and devoted your affections and 
your obedience to other objects: and now 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 



31 



again God is following you with his entreaty, 
saying, son give me thy heart. Most parents 
would say to their perpetually disobedient and 
refractory children, if you will not give me 
that share of affection and obedience which 
are due to me, if ye will work continually 
against my interest, and follow your own 
pleasure, you must take your own course, and 
reap the bitter fruits ; but at every step of 
your wandering course, your heavenly father 
says, son, daughter, give me thy heart. How 
often does God address your age in the in- 
spired writings of this book. You have 
learned that Solomon was the wisest of men. 
The wisest man, then, has employed his pen 
the most, for your especial benefit, in warn- 
ing, counsel, and reproof ; and the wisest of 
men knows best the importance of the youth- 
ful period to your own happiness and future 
usefulness, and eternal well being, as well as 
to the good of society. 

No sooner do you open this book, than you 
discover that the writer is looking at you, and 
saying, "The fear of the Lord is the begin- 
ning of knowledge. My son, hear the in- 
struction of thy father, and forsake not the 
law of thy mother. For they shall be an or- 
nament of grace unto thy head, and chains 
about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice 



32 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH, 



thee, consent thou not. My son, forget not 
my law, but let thine heart keep my com- 
mandments: for length of days, and peace, 
shall they add to thee. Cease, my son, to 
hear the instruction that causeth to err 
from the words of knowledge. My son, if 
thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, 
even mine." In the name of God, he says to 
you, "I love them that love me, and they that 
seek me early shall find me." And, as he di- 
rected his attention to you at the beginning, 
so he closes his writings with an address to 
you, and says, ''Remember now thy Creator, 
in the days of thy youth, while the evil days 
come not, nor the years draw nigh when thou 
shalt say, I have no pleasure in them." 

The claim which God makes of you in the 
text is, that you give your heart to him. This 
means the affections — the devotion of the 
soul to God — to become obedient from the 
heart — to be a christian. 

Yielding to this claim implies, on your part, 
repentance — a godly sorrow that you have 
ever withheld your affections from God. It 
irpplies being born again, which is a change 
of the affections from enmity to love. — 
Though some of you may claim for . your age 
comparative innocence, and exemption from 
the faults and vices which are often the re- 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 33 

proach of maturer age ; yet of you it is as 
true as of any others — except ye be born 
again, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of 
heaven. It implies faith. A receiving and 
resting upon Christ for salvation, as he is of- 
fered unto you in the gospel. It implies a 
life of obedience, according to the gospel.— 
Denying yourselves to all "ungodliness, and 
worldly lusts, and living soberly, righteously, 
and godly, in this present evil world." It 
implies the qualifications for answering the 
great end of your being in the present world, 
and that which is to come. For filling your 
place suitably in the family, as those who are 
under authority ; as children, as brothers and 
sisters, in the intimate relation of the house- 
hold. Or, as citizens of the civil community, 
as members of the church of Christ, or as 
expectants of a happy eternity. All these 
high objects are connected with the attain- 
ment of the christian character, and the ex- 
ercise of right dispositions toward God. To 
be a christian, in the full sense -of that term, 
is the highest style of man. The ornament 
and finish of our nature. It is to throw off 
from your nature, the resemblance which it 
bears to fallen spirits, and be assimilated to 
angels. It is to bear the Imageof the heaven- 
ly — to be partakers of the divide nature, 
C 



34 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH, 



God's claim upon you then, is, so far as 
your natures are capable, to make you hon- 
orable and dignified, to advance you to the 
highest possible excellence, to make you in 
the highest degree useful, in the present 
world, and in the highest degree blessed, in 
the world to come. It is by giving your heart 
to God, to take it from all that is evil, dishon- 
orable, and debasing, and set it on those 
things which are excellent, which are lovely, 
and of good report. It is to take you 
from the companionship of wicked men and 
devils, and make you the associates of the 
righteous, of angels, and of God. It is, that 
beginning to love God in your youth, you may 
love him forever. That the morning of your 
life, opening under the sunshine of heavenly 
light, you may have an eternal day. That, 
improving your seed time, you may reap a 
harvest of eternal joy. That, occupying 
suitably the spring-time of your life, you may 
escape the peltings of a wintry storm eter- 
nally, and pliack the fruits which are eveir 
ripe in the paradise above. 

Again : it is right that you should yield to 
this claim early in life. This is his command 
— "seek first the kingdom of God. ? * For- 
merly, Gx>d claimed the first born of man, 
and - of beast,., and the first fn its of tha field. 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 



35 



Now, the general claim has succeeded to the 
special one. He claims you all, and the Jirst 
of your days. How has the idea become so 
general, that the first fifteen or twenty years 
of life may be spent in indifference and for- 
getfulness of God, without alarm, either on 
the part of the parent, or the child ! Is it 
reasonable that God has made you, the chief 
part of his workmanship, and resigned you 
to his enemy, to train you, and have the first 
of your service? Is it reasonable that your 
first and best years should be given to a usur- 
per, with the deceitful promise, that the dregs 
of life should be devoted to your rightful 
master ? "Will a man rob God ? yet ye have 
robbed me," says God to you who withhold 
your hearts from him. He says to you, "If 
I be a father, where is mine honor; and if I 
be a master, where is my fear." As robbery, 
by common consent, is admitted to be wrong, 
robbery of God is so in the highest sense. — - 
In reference to it, God will not only expostu- 
late, but he will punish. Give, then, unto 
God the "dew of your youth." Only in 
doing this may you expect to make the high- 
est attainments in the christian life. No 
great proficiency can be made in any pursuit, 
which is not commenced early in life. It will 
keep you from the formation of habits which* 



36 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH, 



if formed, you may never overcome; or if 
conquered, it will be with great effort, and 
bitter repentings. It will bless you in your 
secular pursuits; it will sanctify the relations 
you form in life; it will cause the sun to set 
peacefully in the evening of your days ; it 
will introduce you into the calmer regions of 
heaven, and make God your portion forever. 
That you may be the more likely to secure 
the high object which is here recommended, 
we ask your attention to the following sug- 
gestions i 

1. Seek high attainments in christian 
knowledge. — Acquaint yourselves thoroughly 
with the doctrines and duties of revealed re- 
ligion. In this way, not only may you hope 
to be saved, but to be useful in your genera- 
tion. In this way the intelligent preaching 
of the gospel will become more interesting 
and profitable to you. For this purpose, at- 
tend with the vigorous application of your 
minds to the preaching of the gospel. Have 
Bibles of your own, and read them through 
in course, so soon as you can read well. — 
Learn the catechism, under the direction of 
your parents, with promptness and accuracy. 
Study its meaning, and endeavor to under- 
stand it. Search for this knowledge as for 
hid treasure. The promise is, you shall un- 



TO U1VBAPTIZED YOUTH, 37 

derstaaad the fear of the Lord, and find the 
knowledge of God. 

% Form to yourselves the habit of secret 
prayer* — This is the command — enter into 
thy closet — a term used for any retired place, 
and pray to thy father wkoseeth in secret; 
and the promise is, he shall reward thee open- 
ly. Most of those who have been distinguish- 
ed for talents, piety, and usefulness, began 
early in life to seek the Lord, 

Dr. Watts, when about seven yeai's old* 
wrote the following prayer, 

Wash me in thy blood, O Christ! 
Arad grace divine impart, 
Then search, a«d try, the corners of my heart, 
That I in aH things may be fit to do 
Service to thee, atid sing thy praises too. 

You know how well this youthful prayer 
was answered, not only in his own elevated 
personal piety, but also in making him the 
sweet singer of the modern Israel. 

Rev. Jonathan Edwards, in some respects, 
the most distinguished divine these United 
States have produced, when about seven years 
old, with two other boys of the same age, 
built a booth in a marsh, in which they met 
for united prayer. So deeply concerned was 
he for his salvation at this age, that he pray- 
ed in secret five times a day, and took great 



S8 



TO UNBA.PTIZED YOUTH. 



delight in religious conversation, and public 
worship. 

Philip Henry made a public profession of 
religion before he was sixteen ; and his son, 
Matthew Henry, the distinguished commen- 
tator f had reason to hope,, when eleven years 
old, that he was converted, and pardoned. — 
His sisters and he united in spending an hour 
every Saturday afternoon in religious exer- 
cises, preparatory to the Sabbath. He led 
their devotions, and encouraged and assisted 
them in the way of piety* He lived a useful? 
life, and being dead, he yet speaketh by his 
useful writings, in every -christian country. 
How much good one person may do, who; is 
early devoted to the service of God, i<m> one 
can teli. Dr. D wight, whom New England 
is proud to own as one of her most distin- 
guished sons, earnestly sought the Lord when 
eleven years old. "Seek and ye shall find,, 
knock and it shall be opened unto you." If 
this applies to others, it applies peculiarly to 
you. If every one that asketh, receivetb, 
there are peculiar reasons why the persons of 
of your age, who ask, should receive. Take 
heed that you lose not this golden season, 
and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh 
and thy body are consumed, and say, haw 
have I hated instruction, and my heart des- 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 



39 



pised reproof, and have not obeyed the voice 
of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to them 
that instructed me. 

II. The effect of conforming to this 
course is, first, joy to your parents : — Thy 
father and thy mother shall be glad, and she 
that bare thee shall rejoice. It is true of 
many parents, who have not religion them- 
selves, that they are pleased that their chil- 
dren should be pio-us. But it is specially true 
of the religious parent, that the "father of 
the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he 
that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of 
him." 

You are not now capable of fully knowing 
the anxieties of your pious parents for your 
spiritual life. If they saw you daily languish- 
ing under a bodily malady which threatened 
your life, you could more easily conceive 
their concern for you ; but your spiritual 
health and life is a more just ground of anx- 
iety than this. Though many of the moral 
and amiable qualities may adorn your life, 
they know that except ye be born again, ye 
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. — 
Especially, if with your growing years, you 
show increasing indifference to the interests 
of religion, their anxieties increase with a 
more consuming intensity, and with Abra- 



40 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH. 



ham, in view of the casting off of his son from 
the household of the godly, their daily prayer 
is, "O that Ishmael might live before thee 
and the prospect of your departure from the 
world in this state, excites emotions akin to 
those which David expressed with weepings 
"O my son Absalom, my son^my son, would 
God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son." 
The feelings of Monica* the mother of Au- 
gustine, are substantially those of every pious 
mother. Though he had been the subject of 
her religious instructions and prayers, from 
his infancy, yet for a time they seemed to be 
lost upon him. This only increased her anx- 
iety and prayerfulness, on his behalf. She 
said she had no purpose for which she desired 
to live, but for his salvation. At length the 
blessing came ; he was convinced of his sins,, 
and turned to God. This change of his views 
he communicated to his mother by letter. — > 
Being satisfied of the fact, with Simeon she 
said, "Now let test thou thy servant depart in 
peace> for mine eyes haveseen thy salvation;'" 
&nd in a very short time she died. This con- 
verted son became the most eminent defend- 
er of the faith of the 4th century. Would 
you then, not be a grief to your parents 
while they live, and plant a thorn in their dy- 
ing pillow, avoid the way of sinners,, If 



TO UNBAPTIZED YOUTH* 



41 



you would not cause them to desire to linger 
about these mortal shores, after their other 
work is done, that they may see the effect of 
their prayers and labors upon you, or more 
vigorously try some new motive upon you, 
obey wow; the command of God, as he says — 
son, give me thy heart. The desire of God, 
of Christ, of Angels, of your parents, of 
your pastor, of the church, is one on this sub- 
ject, and when you fulfill it, there is joy in 
all. 

Thy father and thy mother shall be glad. 
There is joy in heaven over one sinner that 
repenteth — and ye are our joy and crown of 
rejoicing in the day of Cnrist. 



DISCOURSES 



TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES. 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 

"For they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and 
their offspring with them." — Isaiah Ixv, 23. 

It is important for every class of persons 
to understand the relations they sustain. — 
Without this, they will not be likely to feel 
their obligations, or discharge their duties. 
Several causes have contributed to throw ob- 
scurity on the relation the baptized hold to 
the church, and to weaken the sense of obli- 
gation growing out of this relation. One of 
these is, the common feeling of our depraved 
nature, which Jeads us to cast off all reli- 
gious restraint, and, as much as possible, to 
feel independent of all obligation. Another 
is, the teaching which is extensively pro- 
claimed, and eagerly insisted on, that no such 
relation of the offspring of the church is au- 
thorized by the Scripture, except on their 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



43 



own personal profession. This teaching has 
no doubt had an indirect influence on those 
who do not think it is true, in causing them 
more lightly to regard their obligations, and 
value their privileges. And a third cause is, 
that the churches which do believe that the 
offspring of professed believers sustain inter- 
esting and important relations to the church, 
have not been sufficiently careful in defining 
that relation, together with the privileges 
and duties arising from it. Let us then as- 
certain, 

I. The relation of baptized children 
to the church. 

II. Their rights, and privileges. 

III. Their obligations. 

I. The relation of baptized children to 
the church. — The text asserts of the believing 
church, that they are the seed of the blessed 
of the Lord, or of those whom the Lord hath 
blessed, and their offspring with them. That 
is, the parents are the seed of those whom 
the Lord hath blessed, and their offspring are 
also blessed with them. That is, the blessing 
runs on in the generations of the righteous. 
This may be explained by a reference to the 
covenant which God made with the church. 
In conformity with this, God styled himself 
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. 



44 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



And also the God of Israel; meaning the 
whole nation. Moses and the prophets, ad- 
dressing the nation, call him perpetually your 
God, thy God, &c. For the same reason, he 
is called the God of Zion, and the church, 
because his covenant is made with her. The 
covenant proposed to be made with the New 
Testament church, is — I will put my laws 
into their mind, and write them in their 
hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they 
shall be to me a people. The w r ords of this 
covenant are the same as that made with 
Abraham: all that is involved in each, being 
expressed in these comprehensive words — I 
will be their God, and they shall be my peo- 
ple. In thiscovenant,originally, God express- 
ly promised to be a God to Abraham, and to 
his seed. Of this covenant circumcision 
was the token. The manner in which the 
covenant was understood by Moses,is taught 
us in Deut. xxix, 9-15 — Ye stand this day, 
all of you, before the Lord, &c. In this pas- 
sage we are informed. L That all Israel with 
their little ones, were included in the cove- 
nant solemnly renewed on that day. 2. That 
this covenant included the succeeding gene- 
rations. It is fair, then, to conclude that 
those who sustain a covenant relation to 
God, and upon whom the signs of that cove- 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



45 



nant have been placed, according to the di- 
vine will, do bear relations to God, and his 
church, different from those on whom the 
signs of the covenant have not been placed. 

To this conclusion we are bound to come, 
on the supposition which we now take for 
granted, that the signs of God's covenant are 
employed according to the divine will, when 
they are applied to the children of believers. 

In regard to their relation to the church, 
we remark, then, that they are members of it. 
The Apostle frequently uses the figure of the 
natural body, to represent the church. But 
in the natural body, all the members have not 
the same capacity, nor are they the same 
size ; neither is this necessary to make them 
members. The fingers, though small, are as 
really members of the body, as the head. 

The child, in the natural family, is much 
inferior to the parent in qualification, and in 
other respects ; but it does not, by this, cease 
to be a member of the household . Children 
are as truly members of the nation, as their 
parents, though they are not entitled to exer- 
cise all the rights and privileges of adult cit- 
izens. The church is a federal, or corporate 
body, and is therefore often called a kingdom, 
commonwealth, or family. This is the view 
recognized in the 25th chap, of the Confession 



46 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH* 



of Faith, which says, "The visible church 
consists of all those throughout the world 
that profess the true religion, together with 
their children^ And chapter 27 : one object 
of the sacraments is said to be, to put a visi- 
ble difference between those that belong unto 
the church, and the rest of the world, and 
solemnly to engage them to the service of 
God in Christ, according to his word. Again, 
chapter 9th of the directory for worship, it 
is said, "Children born within the pale of the 
visible church, and dedicated to God in bap- 
tism, are under the inspection and govern* 
ment of the church. Persons are baptized, 
not so properly in % as into the name of the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That is, they 
are, in this ordinance, publicly and solemnly 
introduced into the family, or recognized as 
belonging to it. According to these views, 
the relation to the church has been determin- 
ed by God, your Creator and Redeemer, as 
much as your relation to the family, or the 
nation in which you live. This has been de- 
termined by God, in giving you your birth in 
the circumstances in which he did. 

Some may be disposed to object to the re- 
ality of this relation, or to the justice of it, 
because you say it was formed at a time when 
you were incapable of giving your consent, 



to Baptized youth. 



47 



and under circumstances over which you had 
no control ; and on this account, you are dis- 
posed to regard the transaction as null and 
void, and as of no obligation. 

But why, for a similar reason, do you not 
object to the Providence by which your ex- 
istence and your relations were fixed in the 
nation, under a certain established form of 
government, and laws! Over this you had 
no control, and to this arrangement you gave 
no consent. And, upon the principle you as- 
sume, you have no connection with the na- 
tion, and its government and laws have no 
control over you. For the same reason, you. 
have no connection, more than other persons, 
in the family where your childheod was 
spent; and owe no allegiance to the parents 
who gave you birth, and sustained you in the 
days of your helplessness, because you were 
not in circumstances to choose your family 
connection, or the parents to whom you 
would yield obedience. This objection, that 
the person's own voluntary act is necessary 
always, to form relations, and lay a founda- 
tion for obligations, is laid in mistake ; and if 
regarded as good, and acted upon in other 
similar cases, would destroy all the compacts 
by which domestic or civil society are held to- 
gether. If you have no reason to object 



48 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



against the divine arrangements by which 
your being has been fixed in the family, or in 
the community, no more have you reason to 
object against your being in such circumstan- 
ces as necessarily connect you with the 
visible church. If your being born in the 
family connection, has been the occasion of 
benefits to you, such as without them your ex- 
istence would have been jeopardized— if your 
birth in connection with the State, has given 
you a right to the privileges, without which 
your lives would be intolerable— and this w r as 
all arranged without your agency or consent: 
so also your relation to the church, by virtue 
of those who lived before you, and by the 
gracious arrangements of the God of Zion, 
if properly estimated and improved, may be 
the occasion to you of benefits infinitely 
greater, both for time and eternity. 

II. Your rights and privileges. — 1. You 
have a right, by virtue of your birth, as the 
children of visible church members, and the 
arrangements of God in this case, to be bap- 
tized. Being the children of such parents, 
in itself, does not give you this right, but 
the arrangement of God in reference to such 
does. It is not the fact that persons are born, 
but born in a particular family connection, 
which gives them the rights of children. It 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



49 



Is not the being born, but born in the nation 
which entitles to the rights of citizens. The 
reason is, that the law of nature and the 
laws of nations have so arranged it : and 
what hinders, that the laws of the spiritual 
kingdom should connect the children of its 
subjects with peculiar privileges? 

2. It is your right to be educated, both in 
a literary and religious way. The extent of 
your claim to a literary education, will de- 
pend, in some measure, upon the station which 
you may be called by Providence to occupy ; 
but such an amount as will make you intelli- 
gent and useful members of the church and 
of society, is the least, in ordinary circum- 
stances, which you should expect. It is your 
right to be trained in the nurture and ad moni- 
tion of the Lord — to be taught thoroughly and 
familiarly, the great doctrines and duties of 
the revealed system of salvation. 

God, the great lawgiver, has conferred upon 
you the right to claim of your parents this 
benefit. He has not given you the claim of 
them for wealth, or affluence, but for a good 
religious education, he has. And for fully ex- 
ecuting this duty on your behalf, they are 
bound by the laws of the kingdom of which 
they are members, to employ their own time- 
iand talents to acquire knowledge, and com,- 



50 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



municate it to you; to provide for you books, 
for the improvement of your minds, and 
christian school teachers, to aid them in do- 
ing the important work which they would 
not do effectually themselves ; and also to 
procure and sustain public teachers of reli- 
gion, to explain and enforce its principles. — 
As children and scholars in the school of 
Christ, you have a right to expect that parti- 
cular care should be taken for your instruc- 
tion by parents, church officers, and all the 
older members of the church. 

3. You have a right to expect that the 
teaching of ywr superiors should be enforced 
by a pious and godly example. That they 
will say to you, practically, as well as by their 
instructions — come with us, and we will do 
thee good, for God hath spoken good con- 
cerning Israel. 

4. You have a right to expect that prayers,, 
particular and fervent* will be made constant- 
ly for ym% by your parents, older members, 
and ail ymv religious teachers*, that you, with 
them, may no! only be partakers of external 
privileges, but of saving graces 

5. You have a right, when you arrive at 
years of discretion, and contribute a proper 
proportion for your religious instruction, to 
take part in the management of the external. 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



51 



affairs of the church, and to vote for its offi- 
cers, according to the rules which may be 
adopted in each particular church, and when 
you remove from one church to another, if 
you sustain a good moral character, it is your 
right to ask, and obtain, a letter of dismission 
and recommendation as a baptized member, 
to that society to which you may go, and 
they are bound to receive you as such, and 
perform their proper duties toward you. 

6. It is your right, whenever you manifest 
suitable character, knowledge, and piety, to 
ask, and obtain, the privilege of the commun- 
ion of the children of God, in the celebration 
of the Lord's Supper, and enjoy all the priv- 
ileges of the cnurch on earth. 

These are some of the chief privileges 
which belong to that relation which you sus- 
tain, at present, to the church; and who that 
regards the worth of spiritual things, will 
deny that they are great and precious ! 

But privilege and right, always involve ob- 
ligation. 

III. Your obligations. — 1. To feel bound to 
improve, suitably, the means of your reli- 
gious instruction, whether as afforded you di- 
rectly by your parents, or by those employed 
by them, in the family, in the Sabbath, or 
other schools, in the catechetical cl£ss, or in 



52 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



the public instructions of the church. If you 
are unnecessarily inattentive to any of these 
means, you violate important obligations, and 
not only suffer loss, but incur guilt. Your 
own pleasure is not to be consulted in mat- 
ters of this kind; you are under obligations 
which you can never disregard* without 
crime. 

2. To feel that you are not without law to 
the church, but are bound to respect its rules 
and government, under which you are. If it 
be true, in any sense, that you are members 
of the church, in that sense it must also be 
true, that you are under its government; 
membership without government, is what 
occurs no where. During your minority, 
this is exercised over you, mainly through 
your parents : but, when you arrive at ma- 
ture years, may be exercised upon you di^ 
rectly. 

Do you ask how discipline can be exercised, 
or of what privileges it can deprive you ? I 
answer, it can be exercised in a manner sim- 
ilar to that of others, and deprive you of the 
rights which peculiarly belong to you, as a 
member of the ecclesiastical community; 
such as voting for its officers, and claiming 
the privileges of the ordinances, without giv- 
ing the satisfaction for your immoral conduct 
which the ehurch requires. 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



53 



Do you say, persons disposed to act im- 
properly, would despise the authority of the 
church, and not appear to answer the charges 
which might be brought against them ? I re- 
ply, that this is often done by persons in full 
communion, and our Book of Discipline has 
provided for such cases, in giving the rules by 
which they are to be tried in their absence: 
and who that has any sense of honor, to say 
nothing of respect to religious principle, 
would not regard such a proceeding against 
him, in a respectable community ? Does any 
one object that it would be unrighteous for 
any community to exercise authority over 
those who, by their own voluntary acts, have 
not recognized their jurisdiction ? I answer, 
that this objection would apply as well to the 
relations and obligations of civil society, as 
to the church. No public, voluntary act is 
necessary to constitute membership in the 
State, or give the civil law the control of its 
citizens; it is sufficient that they have been 
born, and lived in the community. Their 
consent is never asked, whether they are 
willing they should be punished when they 
violate the law : such a course would break 
up the foundations of all civil society. For 
the same reason, persons born of those in full 
membership in the church, and baptized in 



54 



TO BAPTIZED YOUTH. 



it, are amenable to its authority, and liable 
to its discipline. This principle was recog- 
nized by the laws of the Jewish church ; and 
the circumcised person who failed to do the 
whole duty of a church member, was requir- 
ed to be cut off. 

In doing your duty, then, in the relation 
which you sustain to the church, and submit- 
ting to its lawful authority, you will make 
the answer to the question more easy — what 
profit is there in baptism ? and convince gain- 
sayers of the wisdom of the divine arrange- 
ments in reference to the seed of the church* 
Fulfilling the duties of your present relation* 
you will experience the fulfillment of the 
promise of the out-pouring of the Spirit upon 
you ? and you shall spring up as among the 
grass — as willows by the water courses. — 
One #f you shall say 7 1 am the Lord's — anoth- 
er shall call himself by the name of Jacob— 
and another shall subscribe with his hand, 
and surname himself by the name of IsraeL 
Instead of the fathers, will be the children % 
and the church will "look forth as the morn- 
ing, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and 
terrible as an army with banners*" 



DISCOURSES 

TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES. 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 

u He that, being often reproved, hardeneth hi3 neck, shall 
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." — 
Proverbs, xxix, 1. 

This is a plain text, and if we shall be able 
to preach a plain sermon, it will only be in 
conformity with the nature of the text. In 
the commencement of this duty, then, I can- 
didly say, that I do it with less hope of suc- 
cess, than I did when I addressed the youth. 
There are several reasons for this feeling; 
one is, that when many efforts have been 
made, without success, every succeeding one 
is undertaken with less hope — especially is 
this the case when all available skill and ef- 
fort have been expended, without accom- 
plishing the object : and, to renew an effort 
which has already been repeated a thousand 
times, seems to lay a requisition on faith, in 
opposition to sense. 



56 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 



Another reason for this discouragement is. 
that we approach a harder substance — not 
only harder than others upon whom fewer 
reproofs have been expended, but a substance 
harder than it was itself once. It seems, 
then, hopeless to attempt to accomplish, with 
the same resources, what has become more 
difficult, since the means which have been 
employed have failed to do it when it was 
easier to be done. In this way, though there 
may be no diminishing of the means, or of 
the influences, by which an object is to be 
accomplished, yet if the object itself, all the 
time, be becoming more difficult, there is less 
encouragement to hope that it will be effect- 
ed. Now this is the effect alluded to in the 
text, of hardening the neck under God's re- 
proofs, and which, in the view of God, is so 
intimately connected with a destruction 
which is suddeli, and remediless. 

Another circumstance of discouragement 
in your case is, that you have already had 
more time, and more calls to repentance, and 
means of grace, than you will probably have 
hereafter ; and there seems but little encour- 
agement to expect that shorter time, and few- 
er means, will accomplish what longer time, 
and more means have failed to do, unless the 
means which are expected in the future 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 



57 



should certainly be expected to be more effi- 
cacious than those which are past : but so far 
as they are to be regarded in the light of 
means merely, is there any reason to suppose 
that this will be the case ? 

A third discouragement in your case is, 
that you have already passed the most hope- 
ful and impressible period of your life. As 
this is true of the youthful period on other 
subjects, so it is also in reference to religion. 

It is a saying of the Chinese, that the gods 
cannot help the man who loses opportunities, 
This is true here. God himself cannot give 
to manhood, and old age, the susceptibility of 
childhood, and youth, without in a miracu- 
lous way suspending the ordinary laws of 
human nature. 

If the spring time of the year be misap- 
plied, or wasted, even God cannot give this 
season in the fall or winter, without changing 
the established order of nature. What can 
not be done without miracle, may not be ex- 
pected to be done: and though religion should 
be obtained in after life, by the interposition 
of extraordinary grace, it is not, in the life 
and character, what it would have been, had 
it sprung up with the growth of the youthful 
faculties, and strengthened with the maturing 
of early habits. 



58 TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 



A fourth discouragement in your case is, 
that all the time, other habits have been con- 
firming. Were the spring season merely- 
wasted, there would be less of loss; there 
has, however, been a luxuriant growth of 
noxious herbage — the soil of your nature has 
not merely remained a blank, so that there 
is nothing now to prevent the seed from fall- 
ing into a good and honest heart ; on the con- 
trary, your nature has been acquiring a hard- 
er surface, and a heavier growth of thorns 
and thistles. You are the creatures of hab- 
its. To live without forming them, is as im- 
possible as to live without the operation of 
your lungs. If they are not habits of posi- 
tive wickedness, they are of positive indiffer- 
ence. If they are not the habits of the com- 
mission of sin, they are of omission of duty. 
If they are not the habits of immorality, 
they are the habits of unconcern. If they 
are not the habits of a spiritual religion, they 
are of a self-deluding formalism. But habits 
they are, which interpose difficulties, in ad- 
dition to your natural depravity, which in- 
crease the obstacles in the way of your return 
to God, and magnify the discouragements in 
the view of those who labor for your salva- 
tion. 

A fifth discouragement in your case is, 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 59 

that there is less praying for you now, than 
there was when you were younger, and less 
than there is for those who are now youth. 
This we apprehend to be a fact, as any one 
may be satisfied who pays attention to the 
public prayers of the church. 

Whether this is to be accounted for from 
an instinctive feeling of less encouragement 
to pray for your class, or from the fact that 
the Spirit does not excite to pray for the 
unconverted who are advanced in life, it is 
not, perhaps, necessary to inquire ; but the 
faot may be regarded, surely, as one of dis- 
couragement to us, and by you should be con- 
sidered as an occasion of alarm. For if it 
be so, that God grants blessings chiefly, or 
always, in answer to prayer, and prayer is not 
made so generally on behalf of your age, it 
seems to indicate that the sudden and reme- 
diless destruction of the text, may be your 
portion. 

A sixth discouragement, which is applica- 
ble at least to many of the class we now ad- 
dress, is, that they cease to attend regularly, 
or at all, the public means of grace. This ul- 
timate point of the hardening process, is often 
reached by those who were once regular in 
such habits. Living instances of the truth 
of this remark can be easily seen here, and, 



60 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 



p3rhaps, every where that the means of grace 
are enjoyed. 

As nothing is to be obtained without the 
use of the means, no higher proof is needed 
of confirmed indifference, than the wilful 
neglect of these means. Usually, some trivi- 
al ground of offence is pretended for this; 
but its true reason is always to be sought for 
in a hardened state of the heart. When it is 
otherwise, the individual can always, in ordi- 
nary circumstances, find some association of 
the household of faith, with which he can 
take delight in going up to the house of God 
in company. 

That state of mind which keeps persons in 
a state of utter indifference in reference to 
religion, and especially that which is so great 
as to keep them from giving countenance, by 
their presence, to the public means of grace, 
is an anomaly in human nature, and a slander 
upon the race of man. The general charac- 
ter given to man is, that he is a religious be- 
ing — he who does not favor, by his own ex- 
ample, the external forms of religion, belies 
this report of his species, and though not 
aware of it, as he may be, he is more incon- 
sistent than the wildest Pagan, or veriest fa- 
natic. "The most preposterous device," says 
Paley, "by which the weakest devotee ever 



to you:ng nonprofessors. 61 



believed he "was securing the happiness of a 
future life, is more rational than unconcern 
about it. Upon this subject nothing is so ab- 
surd as indifference ; no folly so contemptible 
as thoughtlessness and levity." 

A drowning man catching a straw, is act- 
ing more in accordance with the instincts of 
his nature, than in making no effort at all. — 
Observance of the grossest rites of supersti- 
tion, or engaging in the wildest rantings of 
fanaticism, when it is conceived to have some 
beneficial influence upon the eternal well be- 
ing, and in procuring the favor of God, is 
more rational and consistent than doing noth- 
ing. He who believes there is a God, and 
that he has an immortal soul, and who is in- 
different on the subject of his eternal exist- 
ence, forfeits his claim to the common evi- 
dences of rationality, and violates the first 
and strongest instinct of our nature — the de- 
sire of happiness, and of self preservation. 

But a seventh ground of discouragement, 
and of hardening your neck against the yoke 
of Christ, is, your many objections and ex- 
cuses. No one continues in a wrong course 
of any description, without some apology. — 
Some of your excuses are of a doctrinal kind, 
and proceed from a perversion of the truth. 
One is, an abuse of the doctrine of grace. 



62 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 



Oar salvation, you say, is of grace — it is God 
that worketh in us, both to will and to do, 
of his good pleasure. The inference you 
make from the truth of your dependence is, 
that you are free from obligation: and that 
because you need God's help, you will not 
help yourself ; that because your depravity 
is so great that you need unmerited favor, 
you need not be concerned about your sin- 
fulness, or engage with all your souls to ob- 
tain this favor. That is as if a man would 
say he was so sick he need not apply to me- 
dicine; or he was so hungry .he need not seek 
food ; or that he had become so wicked that 
he had gotten free from the obligation of the 
law. 

Another of the feelings of some of you, 
perhaps,is, that you are not under the obliga- 
tions which are binding upon christians, be- 
cause you do not profess to be christians. — 
And do you really suppose that this is the 
case? And has God given two sets of laws 
for the government of mankind? What law 
do you suppose is binding upon the christian, 
which is not upon you? Is he bound to ob- 
serve all the statutes of the Lord, and are 
not you? If not, what released you? your 
refusal to obey? And can it be that disobe- 
dience releases from obligation to obey, and 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 63 



consequently from the sin of disobedience? 
If so, the devils are the least sinners of all ! 
If the christian is bound to live a holy life, so 
are you- If he is bound to feel an interest 
in promoting the cause of Christ, so are you. 
You might as well suppose that no persons 
were bound to promote the interests of the 
State, except the noisy politician. He makes 
professions of interest — you do not: there- 
fore obligation rests upon him, not upon you. 
This goes on the supposition that you have 
no obligations to God, only what you are 
pleased to assume ; and can you think that 
you can get along with the government of 
God in this way T 

Again: You object against religion, on ac- 
count of the business transactions of its pro- 
fessors — their closeness — their hard dealing. 
And what if some have not magnanimity 
enough to keep them from doating over ^ 
cent: is it a fact, according to your own 
showing, that professing christians of all e- 
vangelical denominations^ are equally immor- 
al and vicious, with the other classes of so- 
ciety ? If so, why do not the openly vicious 
and profane join their society ! All men like 
society of their own kind. From what class 
of society* comes the greatest number of 
criminal prosecutions — from the church?— 



64 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 



The smallest amount of candor, says no. If 
depravity is so great, in despite of religion, 
what inference should you draw from it, but 
this ; that you are in the greater need of it, 
unless you claim that you are an exception to 
the race. If you see depravity in every one 
else, you ought to conclude that every one 
else sees it in you, and God sees it more than 
all, and that finding the mote in another's eye 
will not take the beam out of your own. 

But some one, pressed with the argument, 
says, professors are hypocrites] If they are, 
they are not christians ; and, the religion of 
the gospel gives less favor to hypocrites, than 
you do. Why, then, cast upon religion the 
blame of that with which it has no fellow- 
ship? 

You admit there is such a thing as reli- 
gion, or you are an infidel. What availeth, 
then, the vain attempt to escape its obliga- 
tions, by the charge of hypocrisy, which, ac- 
cording to your own use of the term, applies 
only to those who have it not. If you say it 
applies to all, then what becomes of the prin- 
ciple you admit, that there is such a thing as 
religion. If you say you do not wish to be 
a hypocrite, then cease t# profess to be sin- 
cere in believing that thd Bible is true, and 
that genuine religion is a reality, while you 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS, 65 

are seeking to find objections against it, 
and shield yourself from its obligations. If 
you say you do not wish to be a hypocrite, 
then be a genuine christian, and you will give 
better proof of your honesty. If you say 
that if you professed to be a christian, you 
would be more consistent, we say to you — go 
speedily and be so. This is what religion de- 
mands, and the object for which the gospel is 
preached. 

But some other one says, religion is not re- 
quired to he blazoned before the world ; he 
will keep his religion to himself, and in pri- 
vate. We say to you, then, have it in pri- 
vate. We would not make much account of 
that religion which does not live in private. 
Have it, then, in private, and we will not be 
afraid but that, in due time, it will work itself 
into open day. As certainly will it show 
itself, as a lighted candle in the dark. But, 
if your religion is of that kind that it can al- 
ways keep itself from the view of the world, 
you may be certain there is nothing of it.— 
Like the concealed stream making its way 
from the mountain, it seeks to be associated 
with its kindred waters in the flowing river, 
which in its steady and progressive course at- 
tracts the notice of many observers, on its 
E 



66 TO YOUNG NONPROFESSOKST* 



way to the ocean. Have it, then, in private? 
and we will avouch for its manifestation. 

Bat you object, again, to the claim which 
religion makes on you to be a person of 
prayer. You seem to think it is proper for 
christians to pray, but that for you it is wick- 
ed. And are you really honest in this ? Do 
you truly believe that you will offend God 
more by asking him for the grace by which 
you may glorify him, than not? to ask him 
for a new heart, than to go on indifferently 
with the wicked heart you have I I question 
very much the sincerity of such a profession 
as this. I question the possibility of a per- 
son not seeking the Lord, from the motive of 
honoring him more. 

But if I am the head of a family, it would 
be hypocrisy for me to pray before it. If 
you are really afraid of that, there is not 
much danger that you will be guilty. If you 
are really afraid of that, make that the sub- 
ject of your prayer, as you ought always to> 
pray for what you feel you most need. 

But I will not pursue your objections ; and 
say to you again — He that, being often re- 
proved, &c. And have not you been often 
reproved by God in his word — by his provi- 
dence — by your own conscience — by the 
strivings of his Spirit? And have you not 



TO YOUNG NONPROFESSORS. 67 

reason to fear the doom of such? — destruction 
—sudden, and without remedy! — Prov. i, 
23-26: Zec.vii, 12,13: 2 Thess. i, 8,9. 
If it be not already too late, your only hope 
is in obeying the invitation of Christ, and 
coming to him, taking his yoke upon you and 
learning of him, with the assurance that you 
shall find rest to your souls. 



DISCOURSES 



TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES. 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 

"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are 
strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye 
have overcome the wicked one." — 1 John, ii, 14. 

As the gospel in its commands overlooks 
no age or class of persons, so it does not in 
its provisions of counsel and encouragement. 

The beloved disciple, from instructions giv- 
en to the church in general, proceeds here to 
address different ages of church members — 
the children, youth, and aged ; that all might 
feel that they were more particularly address- 
ed, and that the instruction given might be 
more pointed and particular. From the fact 
that children, young men, and fathers, are 
particularized, it is to be inferred that in this 
first and purest age of Christianity, children 
and youth, as well as the aged, were the pro- 
fessed disciples of the Savior. The perni- 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 69 



cious and mistaken idea had not then beeome 
so common, as in after times, that youth, and 
particularly childhood, may not feel the obli- 
gations of personal piety and profession, and 
that it will be sufficient for manhood and age 
to assume this responsibility. The fact that 
the children and youth were christians, is as- 
signed as the reason why this affectionate 
Father of the apostolic church writes to 
them : — I write unto you little children, be- 
cause your sins are forgiven you, for his 
name's sake. Not because, though they 
were little children, they were innocent, and 
had no sin, but because their sins were par- 
doned for Christ's sake, and because they had 
known the Father, which the Savior says, 
elsewhere, is eternal life. Children, then, 
may be the subjects of conversion, and may 
properly profess religion. 

The reason for writing to the youth, is not 
that they might be born again, but because 
they were; because they were strong — not 
bodily strength is intended, but in faith and 
knowledge ; the word of God abiding in 
them, and because they had overcome the 
wicked one. They had successfully encoun- 
tered the first trials and temptations which 
attended their separation from sin — they had 
overcome the assaults of the wicked one by 



70 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



giving up their sinful pursuits, and entering 
in by the strait gate into the kingdom. — ■ 
From this consideration they were exhorted, 
that they should go forth in the strength of 
their Redeemer, aspiring after further victo- 
ries, and spend the vigor of their spirits and 
the prime of their years for the honor of 
Christ and the benefit of the church, and as 
the word of God abode in them, so it ought 
to manifest itself in all good works. 

This example of inspired counsel teaches 
us, that the ministry is not to think its work 
accomplished with the introduction of hope- 
ful converts into the kingdom, but that this 
fact itself lays the foundation for other anx- 
ieties, instructions, and admonitions, by those 
who watch for souls as those who must give 
account. It teaches us too, that however 
early in life persons may become the subjects 
of renewing grace, there is a world of temp- 
tation around them, against being led into 
which they have need to watch and pray ; 
and that there is before them a field of attain- 
ment, of activity and usefulness, which may 
call into requisition all their resources, and 
occupy all their time and dilligence, however 
long life may be prolonged to them. 

We ask you, then, to summon your atten- 
tion with mine, to the consideration of the 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



71 



inquiry, what is the great purpose which the 
kindness of God has had in view in distin- 
guishing you by peculiar favor, and how you 
may best answer the high obligations which 
his grace has imposed, and which you have 
voluntarily assumed. 

The great object had in view in your reno- 
vation, and in your profession, is, the Glory 
of God. Your own happiness and safety, 
though an object, is not the chief one; but 
subordinate in those transactions by w 7 hich 
the Holy Spirit has distinguished you in your 
regeneration, and you have distinguished 
yourself from the world by your profession. 
Enjoyment, though it be a proper object of 
pursuit, is not the highest object. Though 
it be an accompaniment of doing our duty 
and serving God, it should not be the ruling 
motive. The chief end of man, is to glorify 
God, and enjoy him forever ; but doing your 
duty and honoring God comes first. The 
command is* — go work to-day in my vineyard 
— the promise is — whatsoever is right I will 
give you. The order then, is, first regard 
your duty to God, and secondly, await the 
enjoyment. Make it then the rule of your 
life not to be governed by the pleasure you 
may suppose you will have in doing what is 
right, but to do what is your duty, because it 
is agreeable to the pleasure of God. 



72 TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 

It is a great mistake to suppose that the 
grfeat object in view by a gracious God, in 
introducing you into the kingdom of his 
grace, was merely the bestowing upon you a 
benefit, and that you have conformed to the 
whole amount of his will, when you have 
become willing to receive his unmerited fa- 
vor. 

A higher object is, that being bought with 
a price, you shonld glorify him with your 
body and spirit, which are his. It is not so * 
much that you should be feasted on the pro- 
visions of his grace, as that yo.u should show 
forth the praises of him who hath called you 
to glory and virtue. Not so much that you 
should drink of the fountain which has been 
made to spring up by the way, as that having 
drunk of the water of life, you should run 
with patience the race set before you, imitat- 
ing Jesus, who, not for the joy he had, but 
for the joy he expected, endured the cross, 
and despised the shame. The feeling which 
governed the youthful humanity of the Re- 
deemer, should govern you, when he said to 
his parents, who anxiously sought him — wist 
ye not that I must be about my Father's bu- 
siness? The motive which prompted him to 
dilligence, should excite you, whan he said — 
I must work the work of him that sent me 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS* 



73 



while it is day : the night cometh. In this 
way, with him you may be able to say — I have 
finished the work which thou gavest me to 
do : now, therefore, O Father, glorify thou 
me with thine own self. 

The particular idea which these remarks 
are designed to impress is, that to do good, to 
honor your Redeemer, by a life of active obe- 
dience to his will, is the great object had in 
view in your conversion, and in your profes- 
sion, and not merely the receiving a benefit 
to yourself in the possession of a good hope, 
and the final salvation of your soul. That 
the object in kindling a light upon the can- 
dle-stick of your soul is, not so much to grat- 
ify yourself with the light of it, as that you 
may let it shine, that others seeing your good 
works, may glorify your heavenly Father. — 
That the object of the salt of grace being 
given to you is, not so much that you being 
seasoned should be preserved, as that you 
should be the salt of the earth, and that the 
object of the word of God abiding in you is, 
that you should hold forth the word of life; 
that by you, and through the means which 
you may employ, others may be brought to 
the knowledge of the truth and be saved. 

How, then, you ask, is this high purpose to 
be attained ? I answer, by being like the 



74 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



young men to whom the Apostle writes * in 
the text — by being strong — by the word of 
God abiding in you, and by overcoming the 
wicked one. 

I. To fulfill the responsibilities of the chris- 
tian profession, strength is necessary. The 
spiritual economy, like the natural, is, not to 
create at first in perfection. Like the natu- 
ral man, all the faculties are given, but in a 
state of immaturity, which are gradually to 
be developed. The natural infant has all the 
members of the body, and the faculties of the 
mind which belong to the full grown man ; 
but length of time is necessary for their full 
manifestation. The same trait of Provi- 
dence is seen, also, in the vegetable kingdom. 
The flower does not appear in its beauty 
when the leaf and stem first attract the eye 
—the seed is not ripened till after the blossom 
appears — the ripened harvest does not come, 
till after the flowers of Spring have faded. 
So here there is first the blade, then the stalk, 
then the full corn in the ear. There is the 
twilight, and the rising sun, before the perfect 
day. How happy is it when the noonday 
comes in youth ; when it can be said, as it 
was by the beloved Apostle of the young men 
to whom he wrote — ye are strong. If time 
be necessary for the strength of grace, the 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



75 



seed of the spiritual life must have commenc- 
ed its growth in their case, in childhood. — 
When we hear of strength, we naturally 
think of labor, or trial: so spiritual strength 
is for these. The images by which the chris- 
tian life are represented, show that strength 
is needed. 

If it be a race, strength is needed to run it. 
If it be a warfare, it is necessary to be strong 
in the Lord, to fight the good fight of faith. 
If it be a contest, it is necessary to wrestle 
against principalities and powers. If the 
struggle be long, strength is important to hold 
fast the beginning of your confidence, stead- 
fast unto the end. How blessed are they 
who have not only the beginning, but the ma- 
turity of the spiritual life, in their youth. — 
They have made large conquests before others 
begin their victories. 

Csesar, at the age of thirty, wept, because 
at his age Alexander had conquered the 
world. How many should now weep, be- 
cause at a more advanced age, they are too 
weak to overcome the world. Calvin at the 
age of twenty-two, wrote his Theological 
Institutes, a work which has ever since been 
the admiration of divines. Wm. Jay, who 
has been preaching the gospel about sixty 
years, and who is the most beautiful writer of 



76 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



sermons in England, began to preach when 
he was sixteen; and president Davies, though 
he died young, by his many sermons yet 
speaketh, and will long continue to speak, for 
the edification and salvation of men. It is 
not necessary for you, then, to be old in or- 
der that you may be strong in grace. What 
the aged Paul said to the youthful Timothy, 
and expected him to attain, you may fulfill — 
My son, be strong in the grace which is in 
Christ Jesus. What was done by David, 
when a ruddy youth, you may imitate, when 
he vanquished him who defied the armies of 
the living God. What was accomplished by 
Solomon, in raising a temple for the Most 
High, you may spiritualize in demolishing 
the Pagodas of China, and erecting a gospel 
church, to which the eyes of Eastern millions 
will be directed. Set for yourselves an ele- 
vated standard of christian attainment and 
usefulness, and your bones may lie beside a 
Harriet Newel in India, a memorial to un- 
taught thousands, that the gospel has been 
there. Or with a Mrs. Sawyer in the wilds 
of barbarous Africa. You may stand as a 
solitary light in the midst of a deep and 
gloomy darkness, and call across the ocean to 
your American sisters to come over and help 
you. 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



77 



In the present age of the church, the Prov- 
idence of God seems to be calling for a high 
character of early piety. The hands of an 
imploring world are stretching out for the 
Word of Life. The voice from between the 
Cherubim is asking, whom shall we send, 
and who will go for us ? And from what 
class of the professing church is the response 
to come ? From the aged? This is not to be 
expected. It is you that are expected to 
answer, as Iaiah did — here am I ; send me. 
It is you who are to build up the waste pla- 
ces of Zion, and make the desert to bud and 
blossom as the rose. It is you who are to 
change the habitations of cruelty into the 
dwelling places of righteousness. It is you 
who are to be the pillars of the Temple in 
this land of the Pilgrims, and cause the waters 
of the sanctuary to fertilize the western wilds 
of the Mississippi, and flow on in their heal- 
ing purity to unborn generations. It is you 
w 7 hom men are to rise up and call bles- 
sed, for the light of life which has gladdened 
their eyes. 

For this, then, be strong, and of a good 
courage, and he shall strengthen thy heart. 

But how, you ask, can these attainments 
be made — this spiritual strength be acquis 
ed? I answer, by having the other qualifi* 
cations of the young men of the text, 



78 TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



II. By the word of God abiding in you. — 
As in nature there is the provision necessary 
for perfecting that which is fFrst produced in 
a state of immaturity, so it is in grace- As 
the command is, "grow in grace," so the pro- 
vision is, milk for babes, and meat for men of 
full age. And the requirement, in conformi- 
ty with the instinctive impulse of the infan- 
tile nature is, as new born babes, desire the 
pure milk of the word, that ye may grow 
thereby. This is effected when the Savior, 
through the means of his grace, fulfills to his 
flock the kind office of a shepherd, according 
to the description of the prophet : He feeds 
them, and gathers the lambs in his arms, and 
carries them in his bosom. The Savior made 
provision for this object when he gave the 
solemn charge to Peter — "Feed my lambs." 
This word dwelling in you richly, in all wis- 
dom, you are furnished for all good works.^ — 
By this you become thoroughly furnished ; 
you get more understanding than the ancients, 
and know more than your teachers. Its doc- 
trines establish and strengthen you, make you 
firm and immoveable, always abounding in 
the work of the Lord. Its precepts are a 
lamp to your feet, while by the promises you 
are sustained and comforted, and changed 
into the divine nature. 



TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 79 



The word of God abiding in you, and 
leading you to exercise the strength you have, 
will produce an increase of strength. 

Such* is the law of the spiritual economy, 
as well as the natural. Food is not sufficient 
for the infants growth, however pure and 
suitable its quality ; it must exercise all its 
strength in active effort, or it will not acquire 
the strength of manhood. The hand you 
use the most has the most strength, and you 
use it with the greatest ease. The same prin- 
ciple applies here. He that exercises the 
powers of his mind most in acquiring spirit- 
ual wisdom, is the most capable of acquiring 
more. He that labors most for the cause of 
God, is the best qualified to labor. He who 
has contended against temptation the most 
vigorously, is the most vigorous to contend* 
He who has exercised his benevolent feelings 
the oftenest, is the strongest to exercise them 
again. Avoid, then, the common mistake, 
that you must first be strong, before you at- 
tempt work for God. Make not the common 
excuse, that you are too weak toattempt your 
duty. Use the strength you have, and it 
will increase in the using. Never decline any 
duty to which you are evidently called. Be 
ready to every good work, zealously affected 
always in a good thing. Contend earnestly 



80 TO YOUNG PROFESSORS. 



for the faith which has been revealed, but 
never break up the peace of the church about 
mere matters of opinion and tradition. When 
you are firm, be sure you are rooted and 
grounded in the truth ; that it is the love of 
the word, and not your self-will, which gov- 
erns you. 

In this way you will honor your profes- 
sion, and be a blessing where you live. 

A third item in the description of the pi- 
ous youth of the text, and a quality claiming 
your imitation, and necessary to the perfect- 
ing of your strength and usefulness, is, a suc- 
cessful resistance of the temptations of the 
wicked one. 

This you will accomplish, by regarding the 
exhortation which immediately follows : — 
Love not the world ; which is explained to 
include the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the 
eye, and the pride of life. Every period of 
life has temptations more peculiarly its own 
— so has yours; one of the chief of which 
is, the pursuits which are peculiarly those of 
pleasure. If Mammon does not yet tempt 
you to offer sacrifice to him, fashion may.— 
If you are not engaged in the ambitious pur- 
suits of public honor, you may be in neigh- 
borhood respectability, and the rivalry of 
companionship, in which you may blot your 



TO YOUXG PROFESSORS. 



SI 



profession, and bring leanness upon your soul. 
While you may not assume the gravity and 
austerity of age, avoid the sinful follies of 
youth. Make the wise your companions, 
and frequent no party of pleasure, where the 
introduction of the cause of your master 
would be a breach of the rules of the compa- 
ny. Live so that both your language and 
your example will say to your fellow youth: 
44 Come thou with us and we will do thee 
good, for God has spoken good concerning 
Israel." 



F 



DISCOURSES 

TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES 
PART THIRD. 



DISCOURSES 



TO DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES. 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 

" Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he 
knoweth not.' — Hosea Hi, 9. 

Nature in man, as well as elsewhere, has 
its signs of maturity, and of approaching de- 
cline. There is a certain, but mysterious 
connection betw r een the movements of the 
internal state of the constitution, and the out- 
ward expression. The causes may be con- 
cealed, but the effects are evident. It is with 
human life, as it is with the seasons. They 
follow each other in quick succession, and 
the extremes of each are so blended together, 
that calculation is necessary, to assure us, 
that we have passed the one, and entered the 
other; and yet the spring is distinctly mark- 
ed from the summer, and the summer from 
the autumn. You may not be able easily, 
to mark the limits between youth, and 



86 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



manhood, and manhood and middle age ; 
but that you are in the one or the oth- 
er, the figures of nature indicate to the 
passers by, with but little danger of mistake. 
Though you cannot see the verdure of spring 
fading, and changing into the yellow hues of 
the harvest, or the reddened leaf of autumn 
yet you can see that it has done so ; and by 
noticing the signals, you have no doubt of 
being in the one or the other season. So of 
life — you imperceptibly make the transitions; 
but that you have made them is proved to 
you by evident signs. Before you imagine 
that you have had time to engage in all the 
pleasures and pursuits of youth, manhood 
places you in its ranks, and claims of you its 
duties; and with speedy steps, middle age 
succeeds, and before you are aware, " gray 
hairs are here and there upon you," and you 
begin to descend the downward scale of life. 
We commence life as it were, at the foot of 
an eminence, by an apparently slow, yet 
speedy progress, we reach its summit, and 
when we arrive, there is no level territory, 
on which we may travel for a length of time, 
without a change of position ; but we imme- 
diately begin the descending progress, which 
is hastened by the weight of years, and cor- 
roding cares, till soon the prospects, which 



TO THE MIDDLE AGBD. 



87 



attracted the eye while we were on the ele- 
vation, begin to lose their beauty, and the 
scenes in which we were interested lose 
much of their charm, and before we are aware 
we find ourselves again in the vale below. — 
Happy is he who has sufficient wisdom to 
discern the times and seasons, improving them 
as they pass, and turning each to its proper 
account. In this way the fruits of life will 
be accumulating as he hastens on, making a 
rich treasure to be drawn upon by age, and 
causing it to abound in all the fruits of holi- 
ness to the glory of God, and the good of 
man. 

We ask your attention to some of the more 
important duties and relations, which belong 
more peculiarly to your age; and 

I. You sustain important relations to your 
country. 

To the men of your age, by the popular 
will, or by constitutional law, most of the 
important offices of the country are restrict- 
ed. Who knows not how much the pros- 
perity of a nation, and even its desirable ex- 
istence, depends upon the wisdom, integrity, 
and moral character of its rulers? Who 
sees not the verification of the truth, that 
when the " righteous are in authority the peo- 
ple rejoice, but when the wicked bear rule? 



88 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



they mourn? Who understands not, that a 
woe is to the land when her king is a child, or 
is silly and weak as a child ? To your age 
too, peculiarly belongs the forming of the 
sentiments, and the controling the popular 
movements of the country. The younger 
will not venture forward in any great move- 
ment, without your countenance and coope- 
ration; and the older are too few, and too 
much inclined to retirement, to lead the w r ave 
of public commotion, or ride front in the 
storm of popular excitement. It is you main- 
ly, who hold the mainsprings .of the machine- 
ry, which is to drive on the wheels of a great 
nation to virtue and prosperity, or being per- 
versely managed, is to explode under the 
judgments of God, with the temporal destruc- 
tion of its inhabitants. Upon you, in an im- 
portant sense, it depends, whether the bless- 
ings of civil and religious freedom, which by 
a gracious Providence, has distinguished this 
people, shall descend to posterity, or wheth- 
er, it, on the one hand, shall degenerate into 
anarchy and licenciousness, or, on the other, 
into civil and ecclesiastical despotism. How 
immense the responsibility of those, into whose 
hands a nation's well being is committed, and 
how important, that wisdom and discretion, 
rather than excitement, should govern the 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



89 



helm, amidst the destructive waves of party 
strife. 

II. You sustain important, and in some re- 
spects peculiar relations to the church. 

To you it more particularly belongs, to sus- 
tain her institutions. Withdraw your pres- 
ence from her means, and the younger will 
follow your example. Most of them are un- 
der your control, and they will not, at least 
in this respect, exceed your authority. 

In the general too, you hold in your hands 
the pecuniary means, w r hich are necessary to 
sustain the literary and religious education 
of the country. Lock up this, which Provi- 
dence has put under your management, and 
these two great pillars of the State, of civiliza- 
tion, and of human happiness, must fall. 

Withhold here more than is meet, and the 
churches will crumble into decay, and the 
sanctuary will be abandoned, the sabbath, 
with all its hallowed associations, and its 
heaven-inspiring themes, will soon cease to 
bless men, and they sink into vice and im- 
morality here, and hopelessness hereafter. 

It is yours too to aid in what is needed to ex- 
tend the church in our own country, and in for- 
eign lands. It is expected of the younger gene- 
rally, that they will go as the Heralds of the 
Cross, as the teachers of the young ; it is ex- 



90 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



pected of you generally, that you will contri- 
bute what is needed to support those who go 
— if they give their lives, that you will give 
your money — if they deny themselves the 
means of acquiring wealth, that you will de- 
ny yourselves the gratification of retaining it 
— if they deny themselves of home and 
friends, that you will give of your abundance 
as the Lord has prospered you — if they give 
their labor for those who are " perishing for 
lack of vision," that you will labor, that you 
may have to give to him that needeth — if they 
will make the channel thro' which the water 
of life may flow to desert and barren lands, 
you will make the reservoir, by which it may 
be kept flowing, and thus each age in its 
place, doing the work for which it is more pe- 
culiarly fitted, the church may " lengthen her 
cords, and strengthen her stakes; 5 ' and thus 
build up the old waste places, the desolations 
of many generations. 

It is yours also, to be examples to the 
younger, in active zeal and devoted piety. — 
Yours is the age in the world, of large enter- 
prises, of worldly speculation, of wise and ma- 
tured plans, and of accumulation. The young- 
er follow the example in these things. They 
are stimulated by the obstacles they see sur- 
mounted, by the acquisitions they see made. 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



9i 



A continent of American forest has fallen 
before the plans of the men of your age, and 
fruitful fields, and towns, and cities have 
arisen upon its ruins ; and the young, encour- 
aged by what has been done, press on the 
conquest farther over the wilderness. 

Let them have equal examples of christian 
courage, of philanthropy, of enterprise, of the 
onward progress of the kingdom of light, over 
the uncultivated territory of darkness, and 
think you, will not the jubilee of the sin-cap- 
tivated nations, at length arrive, and the tri- 
umph be sounded, that " the kingdoms of the 
earth have become the kingdom of our Lord, 
and of his Christ." 

III. Most of the persons of your age sus- 
tain important relations to the family. 

Tho' these are confined to a narrower sphere, 
they are not less important, than any of your 
other relations. In this nursery it is, that 
hopeful candidates are formed for the church, 
and useful citizens for the community. It is 
here more than any where else, that the cha- 
racter of mankind is formed. From this foun- 
tain, healthful or pestilent streams issue, to 
make glad the church, or to demoralize so- 
ciety. And who understands not, that the 
character of the household depends in a pe- 
culiar manner upon the parents? We know 



92 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



who hath said, " train up a child in the way- 
he should go, and when he is old he will not 
depart from it. It is those who are planted 
in the religious household, who may most 
reasonably be expected, to flourish in the 
courts of our God, and bring forth fruit in old 
age. It is from the well trained domestic 
seminaries, that the more public institutions 
are to expect their most honorable inmates, 
and the church her most useful ministers. — 
In one of our Theological seminaries, inquiry 
was made respecting the religious character 
of the families from which the students came, 
and it was found, that in all except two, fami- 
ly religion was observed. And who can tell 
how much the State is indebted to domestic 
training, for such judges as Samuel; or such 
statesmen as Washington, whose father 
taught him the being and character of God, 
by the evidences of wisdom and design in tne 
growth of the garden herbs, and whose moth- 
er could say of him, as the fruit of her own 
care, " George was always a good boy." 

In this department, you sustain the relation 
of instructors. 

This useful and important station is assign- 
ed you, by nature and by command. Thus 
saith the address of Moses: "These words 
which I command thee this day, shall be in 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



S3 



thine heart, and thou shalt teach them dili- 
gently unto thy children, and shall talk of 
them when thou sittest in thine house, and 
when thou walkest by the way, and w r hen 
thou liest down, and when thou risest up." 
And here the manner is worthy of notice, as 
well as the duty. It is to be a familiar, and 
every day business ; and not a dry and irk- 
some task, imposed at set times. Instruction 
is to be given from the gate posts, and by 
the fireside. Not only on some unoccupied 
hour of the Sabbath, but " by the way, when 
thou liest down, and risest up." 

In this station you sustain the responsible 
relation of rulers. 

As in many other things, your wisdom will 
be seen, in keeping the medium between two 
extremes, in the exercise of your authority. 
The one is severity, the other indulgence. — \ 
While you are to chasten your son while 
there is hope, you are not to " provoke your 
children to wrath, lest they be discouraged." 
The despot in the household, is as odious as 
he is in the State; while it is the commenda- 
tion of Abraham, " that he will command his 
children and his ^household after him, to keep 
the ways of the Lord." But firmness and de- 
cision in what is right, is not tyranny. Here 
Eli failed. His sons "made themselves vile, 



94 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



and he restrained them not." Here David 
was mistaken. He had not displeased Ado- 
nijah at any time, saying, " why hast thou 
done so ?" 

But, if you would succeed, your example 
must teach, in conformity with your instruc- 
tion and your authority. It is a familiar ob- 
servation, that example is more impressive 
than precept. And when it unites both au- 
thority and endearment, and is constantly 
exhibited, as in the case of the parent, it must 
be most impressive of all. It operates too on 
the most susceptible subject, at an age, when 
it most easily receives the impress of the seal, 
which is applied to it. What the youthful 
charge see, will effect them more than what 
they hear. Your instruction will be nullified, 
and your authority fail of its end, if you af- 
ford just grounds for the question — "Thou 
that teachest another, teachest thou not thy- 
self?" And "inconsistency may be worse 
than neglect." You should remember, that 
you daily act before a little community, that 
is most noticeable of your character, and that 
before you are aware, the materials upon 
which you act, are capable of being effected 
with any lasting impressions, many a turn is 
given to the future character, and which the 
revolution of years may not change. 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



95 



IV. This relation claims of you family de- 
votion. Various considerations urge this du- 
ty, upon all rulers of the household. Your 
relation to God demands it. And he has 
threatened to pour out his fury upon the 
families that call not upon his name. The 
Savior has taught this duty in the prayer, in 
which he said, <; Our father which art in 
heaven." It is not only designed for more than 
one, but for daily use, as appears by the Ian* 
guage, "give us this day our daily bread."— 
This social prayer, can be united in daily, no 
where else but in the household, and Christ 
taught it to his disciples, when they were his 
family charge. 

Your duty to your family requires it. Even 
the heathen had their household gods, which 
they valued, as their life, and without which 
they hoped not for prosperity. Without 
your children hear you pray for them, it will 
be difficult for you consistently to evince 
your love for them. Were you to neglect 
their food and clothing, you would expect to 
be regarded as inhuman; and what is the 
body to the soul, and time to eternity ? How 
else than barbarous, can those be regarded, 
who are the instruments of introducing be-* 
ings into a sinful existence, and leave them 
unheeded, to go on to perdition, SuGh chiU 



96 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



dren will rise up in the judgment, only to exe- 
crate the thoughtless instruments of their be- 
ing. 

It should not be overlooked, that in these 
interesting relations and duties, both parents 
are equally interested and responsible. If the 
father be the president of the household, the 
mother is at least the vice-president, and 
with regard to influence in the younger years 
of their charge, she has the ascendency. — 
And as in the State, so here, in the case of 
his absence or death, she becomes chief. It 
is to be feared, that professing mothers do 
not always, in reference to family devotion, 
fill the place of their husbands. For this ne- 
glect many apologies may be offered, but it 
is to be feared, that few of them will stand in 
the judgment. 

It is to be feared too, that the believing 
wife does not always, as she might, sanctify 
the unbelieving husband. The Apostle Peter 
assigns to her the honorable influence of gain- 
ing him by her godly conversation. While 
this is sometimes seen, the conformity is often 
the other way. Let there still be in Sarah's 
daughter, the adorning of a meek and quiet 
spirit ; but let it not be so quiet, as to lead 
their husbands to think, that they go on with 
them in their course of neglect of duty, with- 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED. 



97' 



out reluctance. Who can tell what a be- 
coming effort at your duty may accomplish. 
About the commencement of the war^of '76, 
a newly married pair settled in western Vir- 
ginia, in the outskirts of civilization. Neith- 
er of them was then a professor of religion. 
And the gospel and the ministry, with its hal- 
lowed privileges, during that time of national 
trouble, was not there enjoyed. But with 
the restoration of peace, this blessing also 
came. By this time three children -were ad- 
ded to their care; and they began to feel, 
particularly the mother, the importance of 
personal and family religion. On an evening 
by their solitary fire, she introduced the sub- 
ject to him. He meditated for a time with- 
out reply, and retired. It was a moment to 
her, of deep emotion, and of the trial of prin- 
ciple. She resolved, that to pray w r as her 
duty — she knelt with her little ones to im- 
plore the Heavenly Father's blessing. 

But it was a night of restless repose to him; 
and thereafter he assumed the duty himself, 
which he continued until death removed him. 
Again this duty devolved on her, which in 
form at least, she faithfully performed during 
the twenty-nine years of her widowhood. — 
The nine children of the family, all became 
professedly pious. Of the sons, three became 

a 



98 



TO THE MIDDLE AGED, 



ministers of the gospel; of the grand chil- 
dren, nearly all are professors of religion. Of 
the three children with whom she commenc- 
ed the family devotion, one became an elder 
of the church in his early life. Another a 
minister, and the third, the wife of an elder, 
and mother of a minister and elder. Such is 
a train of blessings, which may be referred 
to that auspicious evening for their begin- 
ning, when a mother resolved to pray. May 
not others go and do likewise. Allow me to 
say, that the person refered to in this story, 
was the mother of the present speaker. 



DISCOURSES 

DIFFERENT AGES AND CLASSES 



PART FOURTH. 



DISCOURSES 



TO DIFFERENT A.GES AND CLASSES. 



TO THE AGED. 

" An old Disciple." — Acts xxi. 16. 

This is said of Mnason, who had formerly 
been an inhabitant of the island of Cyprus, 
but was at this time residing at Jerusalem. — 
He was probably among the first converts to 
Christianity, and was now old, both in years, 
and in profession. 

It was customary for the families of Jeru- 
salem, on the occasions of the annual festivals, 
liberally to show their hospitality, in enter- 
taining strangers, who came from a distance 
to worship. Many always attended on these 
joyful occasions, and it was dishonorable to 
make any charge for their accommodations. 
Mnason was distinguished at this time by his 
having Paul and Luke lodge with him. 



102 



TO THE AGED. 



We are to confine our attention to an old 
disciple. Let us then, 

I. Contemplate some of the concomitant 
circumstances of age. 

II. Its privileges and duties. 

I Some of these circumstances bear the 
aspect of discouragement. 

With regard to you, all the previous peri- 
ods of life, have come, and passed away. — 
^Childhood, with its innocent mirth and play- 
ful gambols, its exemption from cares, and 
its imaginative dreams of human life, have 
been yours; but is no more. Youth too, with 
its ardor, its bouyancy of spirit, and its gild- 
ed prospects, has had its season. Manhood, 
with its more sober plans, and chastened 
hopes ; and middle age, with its responsible 
duties, and vexing cares, have opened and clos* 
ed upon your view. The spring, the summer, 
and the autumn, with their varieties, their 
beauties, and engagements, have come and 
gone; and the winter with its clouded sun, 
its hardened earth, and chilling north wind, 
now confines you within doors. You have 
sought and obtained the pleasures, and the 
cares of conjugal and domestic life. Thy 
wife has been as a fruitful vine by the sides 
of thy house, and thy children, as olive plants 
have grown up around thy table. A boun« 



TO THE AGED. 



103 



tiful Providence has blessed the increase of 
the field, and you have lived upon its plenti- 
ful stores. You know what life is — not in 
the pictures of youthful fancy, not in roman- 
tic description, but as it is. And you have 
found it to be a reality, with much illusion — 
a substance, with much of shadow, a vapor, 
tinged with the beautiful colors of the morn- 
ing sun-light, but yet a vapor, that wanteth 
substance to be grasped while it rem&ij|«md 
soon vanisheth away. 

Though desirous to keep open the sources 
of your earthly enjoyment, and exercising all 
your wisdom to keep the streams flowing, yet 
they have dried up, one after another, and you 
have been left to contemplate the channel in 
which they flowed. Anxieties have wrinkled 
your brow. Afflictions have invaded your 
dwelling. The opening flower has faded and 
fallen, while you were endeavoring to hold it 
up. Death has, in the case of many of your age, 
taken away the desire of your eyes. The wife 
of your youth no more makes social your fire- 
side, or your husband, on whose arm you 
leaned for support, and on whose counsel you 
relied for wisdom, is taken from your head, 
and left you in an unsympathizing world to 
your own resources. 

With the failure of outward helpers, the 



104 



TO THE AGED. 



diminishing of your own constitutional pow- 
ers, has kept pace. Yours is the time, when 
" the keepers of the house tremble, and the 
strong men bow themselves, and the grinders 
cease because they are few, and those that 
look out of the windows are darkened. 59 — • 
When the faculties of the mind too, sympa- 
thize with the bodily organs. The scenes of 
worldly pleasure have lost their enchantment. 
Ali.^te daughters of music are brought low. 
when you are afraid of that which is high, 
and fears are in the way, the almond tree 
flourishes. The music of nature has lost 
much of its sweetness, " the grashopper is a 
burden, and desires fail," and the silver cord 
is more and more unloosing. 

If life be greatly prolonged, it is only to in- 
sure greater debility. As certainly as youth 
acquires firmness and strength by advancing 
years, old age ensures increasing infirmity. — 
The eye refuses to convey to the mind the 
beauties of nature, or the knowledge which 
letters afford, the ear becomes dull to sounds, 
the once active limbs refuse to carry their di- 
minished load, an I the staff, or crutch is ap- 
plied for, to help on the body, which once 
moved at pleasure. Such is the common lot 
of our humanity, if death doe^ not come to 
remove us sooner from earth. Deathjfirst, or 



TO THE AGED. 105 

an old age, with constantly growing infirmity, 
is the best this life can do for us. Ye, then, 
who make this world your portion, and life 
your idol, make the largest estimate of what 
it can do for you ; and you find, that the 
largest promise this world can fulfill to you, 
is, to give you death at the expiration of the 
brief period of a vigorous manhood, or an old 
age, drawn out in the want of many circum- 
stances which make life desirable, and then 
death at last. And three score years and ten, 
or four score, are all that are necessary, to 
conduct you through all the changes of ordi- 
nary life, from the helplessness of infancy, 
through the vigor of youth and manhood, 
back again to the feebleness of a second child- 
hood. And in view of what it is, is it not 
best, timely to learn, " so teach us to num- 
ber our days as to apply our hearts unto 
wisdom? 7 ' Why reach after emptiness? 
Why grasp at shadows, and revel in dreams ? 
Why against all experience, all testimony, 
all observation, expect from life what life has 
not got, and never gives ? Why not regard 
life as it is, the cradle only of your being, the 
infancy of a manhood, which is intended to 
be matured beyond time, and thus 

Give your mortal interest up, 
And make your God your ail* 



106 



TO THE AGED, 



II. Your age has its privileges and duties, 
as well as its discouragements and exemp- 
tions ; and 

1. One of these, is, contentment with cheer- 
fulness. 

It is your privilege under the same instruc- 
tors, which the Apostle of the Gentiles had, 
to learn, in whatever state you are, therewith 
to be content. With the many uninviting 
circumstances of your condition, the precept 
" rejoice evermore," is as practicable for you 
as any other age. If many of the streams of 
earthly pleasure have dried up, many of the 
avenues of care have also been closed. If 
the business and active engagements of the 
world, do not divert your attention, its toils 
and disappointments, do not so much exhaust 
your patience. And if your religion may be 
promoted by sufficient leisure, this you have 
more than others. As the wisdom and be- 
nevolence of Providence, are every where to 
be seen, in its own arrangements, so it is here 
in adapting the disposition to the circumstan- 
ces. Neither is this all to be attributed to 
sanctifying influence, but in part at least, to 
natural effect. With the want of ability for 
the engagements of business, there is often 
the want of disposition. With the want of 
equal opportunities for the exhilarating influ- 



TO THE AGED. 



107 



ence of society, there is the want of desire for 
it ; and retirement affords the pleasure, which 
was before sought in company, and the easy 
chair, and the quiet fireside, afford the enjoy- 
ment which was once sought abroad, while 
reflection on the past, supplies the place of 
the news of the present. Instead of anxiety 
for the wants of to-morrow, and laboring to- 
day for their supply, it is the privilege of 
many at least, of this age, to live on the 
stores collected in former years, or on the 
provisions of those who are younger. And 
the law of nature, as well as the law of reve- 
lation, is, that they who have watched over 
others, in the helpless years of their infancy 
and childhood, should, in their turn be pro- 
vided for in the years of their infirmity. And 
that they who have had the follies of child- 
hood borne with, should indulge the infirmi- 
ties of age. Tho' the circumstances necessa- 
rily attendant upon age, and the prospect of 
a departure soon from the world entirely, 
might well seem to cloud the mind in gloom » 
of him, who has sufficient reason to believe, 
that his next remove will deprive him of eve- 
ry comfort, yet the aids of grace come to the 
help of nature, in his case, who has a well- 
established hope, that the change which spee- 
dily awaits him, will greatly amend his condi- 



108 



TO THE AGED. 



tion. This hope, as an anchor of the soul, 
gives support to declining age. In this case, 
the very declining weakness, is a pledge, and 
forerunner of invigorated strength. The dial- 
ing eye, a security for one, that shall see 
even as it is seen, and know, as it is known. 
The deafening ear, for one that shall soon 
hear the music of the better country. And 
the enfeebled body, for one that is glorious 
and immortal. Rejoice then, evermore, and 
again, says the Apostle, " 1 say rejoice." 

If the prospect of the entire cessation of 
corroding care — if the prospect of being 
speedily, and forever free from the pains and 
sins of this fallen mortality — if the near view 
of home, causes the way-worn pilgrim to 
lift up his dejected countenance, and stimu- 
lates his languid steps, to finish what little re- 
mains of his long and tedious journey, then 
lift up your heads with joy, for your redemp- 
tion draweth nigh. As one of the martyrs 
said, in looking across a meadow to the place 
of his execution, " I have but one stile more 
to go over, and I shall be at home." What, 
tho' the remainder of the road should be 
rough, and the weather stormy, there is this 
to alleviate it : it is short, and your Heavenly 
Father's house is near. 

2. Another among the privileges of your 



TO THE AGED. 



109 



age, is the respect of those of younger 
years. 

A compliance with the command, " honor 
thy father and thy mother," will always se- 
cure respect for you. The hoary head is a 
crown of glory or honor, when it is found in 
the way of righteousness. 

Many have sought, and obtained a croicn, 
by deeds of blood ; and when obtained, it 
was not a crown of honor. But Providence 
has placed it upon you without your seeking. 
Age and good works, command the respect 
of all, except the most unworthy. It is a suf- 
ficient proof of a degenerate age, and that 
they are the children of base men, who rise 
up and have the virtuous aged, in derision. 
The Apostle gives a charge, not to parents, 
as it is generally and erroneously understood, 
but to the younger in refereuce to the older, 
and especially in reference to aged widows. 
"If any provide not for his own, and espe- 
cially those of his own house, he has denied 
the faith, and is worse than an infidel." When 
righteousness then adorns your years, you 
have not only the honors of the croion you 
wear; but its profits too; and the younger 
dare not let you want, without subjecting 
themselves to the unworthy character of 
"worse than infidels. 



110 



TO THE AGED. 



3. It is the duty and privilege of your age, 
to show the permanency of christian charac- 
ter, and maturity in grace. 

The doctrine of the perseverance of the 
saints, is proved most impressively, when it 
is seen in a life of four score years, holding 
on its way, and becoming stronger and 
stronger. 

When you hold the beginning of your con- 
fidence steadfast unto the end, mounting up 
as on the wings of eagles, running without 
being weary, and walking without being faint. 
When you continue firm and immovable, al- 
ways abounding in the work of the Lord, you 
become our best answers against the cavils of 
objectors, "living epistles, read and known 
of all men. If your sun has been running its 
course for half a century, diffusing genial 
warmth and heavenly light, in the path in 
which you have moved, it is the best proof 
to those who form their opinions of religion 
by what they see, that it is from above, and 
that " he who has begun a good work in you, 
is able to perform it unto the day of Jesus 
Christ." Such is the description of your 
privilege. " The righteous shall ficurish'dike 
the palm tree, he shall grow like a cedar in 
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house 
of the Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our 



TO THE AGED. 



Ill 



God. They still bring forth fruit in old age, 
they shall be fat and flourishing, to show that 
the'Lord is upright, and no unrighteousness 
in him." It is your jjrivilege, for it often has 
been done, of finishing the sum to which Pe- 
ter commands all diligence to be given, to 
add virtue to faith, and knowledge to virtue, 
with the other items, temperance, patience, 
godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. It 
is yours to illustrate not only the possession, 
but the even balance of the graces. To have 
knowledge without censoriousness, experi- 
ence without impertinence, gravity without 
acrimony, and to be able to see the vanity of 
the world, without being disgusted with it. 

It is your privilege and duty, so long as 
you continue in this tabernacle, to do some- 
thing for the honor of that Savior, to whose 
love you owe all your hope. You may not 
suppose that with the laying aside the active 
duties and busy cares of the world, that all 
your w r ork is done. It is not without some 
important end, you may be certain, that you 
have outlived two or more generations of 
your race, and still occupy a place among 
men, w 7 hile sixteen hundred millions have ex-> 
pired. If it is not to glorify God, by going 
forth in the active duties, it is to illustrate his 
grace, in the passive virtues. Ifitisnotto 



TO THE AGED. IYZ 

teach others how to labor in the vineyard; 
it is to show how yoa can 44 endure as seeing 
him who is invisible." If it is not to go with 
the tribes, to inherit 44 the very much land" 
which is promised for a possession ; it may 
be to tell them what shall befall them in the 
latter days, and with the aged Jacob, stretch 
out your hands over the rising race, and say, 
44 the angel which redeemed me from all evil, 
bless the lads, and let my name be named up- 
on them, and the name of my fathers, and 
let them grow into a multitude in the midst 
of the earth. Like Daniel at the age of 90 
years, you may set an example of firmness* 
against prevailing sin, and in opposition to" 
wicked authority, may pray three times a 
day, with your face towards the Heavenly 
Jerusalem. Or like Simeon, you can wait 
for the consolation of Israel, and coming into 
the temple, may embrace him in your faith, 
and thus be assisted to depart in peace. Or 
as Anna, the widow of 84 years, serve God 
with fasting and prayers, night and day, and 
speak of him to all those who wait for re- 
demption in Israel. 



M 112 82 



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